I was a young warlock in her 30s when I ran across a dwarven Death Knight massacaring the goblins of Booty Bay. I was a little irritated when he killed my quest turn-in, but didn’t say anything — the dude would respawn, after all. But another bystander ripped into the DK for killing all these goblins and “ruining his game.” Another bystander chimed in with something that really stuck with me:

He’s playing the game too. It’s a different part of the game than what you’re playing, but no less valid. Deal with it.

I bring this little scene up because Midsummer Festival is here, and with it Durotan is seeing a lot of players venture into enemy territory, usually wearing raid epics. And somehow, I CAN’T IMAGINE HOW THIS HAPPENS, they wind up under my Shadowfury targeting recticule.

Shocking!

So, needless to say, I’m making good progress on my [City Defender] achievement.

But last night, as I was defending The Exodar’s flame, I got called a jerk for killing Horde. This was a first for me.

Listen. There are plenty of reasons why I’ll leave you alone in a hostile city — well, one, really: you’re there to fish — but working towards the holiday achievements? No way. This is part of the game, too, and it’s not even nearly as hard as [School of Hard Knocks], just wait until off hours to sneak in and desecrate a fire, or get a big group together to do it. In a great display of efficiency last night, the Horde roared through Stormwind and killed the king before moving off to descrate the fire. I got steamrolled by them. It was great!

So, facing a heckler in the Exodar, I thought back to that dwarf DK in Booty Bay, and replied: